The Doctor Who Christmas Special, “Joy to the World”, was Ncuti Gatwa‘s second Christmas adventure after “The Church on Ruby Road,” and it certainly took that chance to build on the already massive lore of the BBC sci-fi. With The Doctor attempting to save the entire universe’s Christmas, he hops through multiple different time periods with Joy (Nicola Coughlan), encountering dinosaurs, among other dangerous threats. Whilst the premise is certainly action-packed, it is one of the smaller details that made this Christmas Special one to remember. That is the Time Hotel that The Doctor primarily uses to traverse time, rather than his usual method of the TARDIS.
This time hotel needs to be considered as a big piece of addition to the lore because of one character it affects in particular. Jack Harkness (John Barrowman). Many will remember Harkness as the immortal human time traveler who we first met back in 2005 in the episode “The Empty Child,” when he meets Christopher Eccleston‘s Doctor and his companion Rose (Billie Piper) during The Blitz. Well, not only does the Time Hotel begin to explain humanity’s evolving relationship with time-travel technology, but it also gives hints as to the seemingly big plot hole that revolved around how Jack Harkness was able to time travel like The Doctor.
‘Doctor Who’s Time Hotel is Not the First Time Humanity Has Meddled With Time Travel
From the very first moment The Doctor realizes what kind of hotel he has stepped into, we can sense the wonder he has for it, almost like he is watching an adorable dog learn to ride a skateboard. He obviously doesn’t respect the technology on the same level as his own TARDIS, but he is fascinated by the way humans have used it to give people a truly unique holiday getaway, as shown in the way he practically ignores the hotel manager played by Jonathan Aris. Perhaps his almost comedic approach to this revolutionary piece of technology, besides the fact that he is literally thousands of years ahead of humanity, is that this is not the first time he has witnessed humanity explore this piece of science.
In fact, when The Doctor last saw how humans were getting on with this, they were in a very primitive stage. They could only look through the past, and not traverse space as well as time, nor can they look into the future. Therefore, it was only referred to as a “Time Window.” This was created by the 21st-century team, UNIT, which we saw Gatwa’s Doctor interact with in the Season 14 finale in a far more productive manner compared to the fact he tried to ban UNIT from ever creating time travel equipment in previous Doctor Who eras. Considering the Time Hotel exists in the 43rd century, it does make sense that humanity would be able to develop this technology considerably, being able to now go forward, backward, as well as move through space and, knowing ourselves, it is not surprising it has gone down a capitalistic route.
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The Time Hotel Begins to Explain How Jack Harkness Could Traverse Time and Space
Despite the fact that Captain Jack Harkness was undoubtedly one of the biggest fan-favorite companions of The Doctor, not only being entertaining, but also helping to bring some much-needed LGBTQ representation to the universe with his relationship with Ianto Jones (Gareth David Lloyd), his ability to move through time and space like The Doctor always felt like a plot hole. The way it was explained was the Vortex Manipulator, which Jack Harkness got as a Time Agent working for the Time Agency in the 51st century, roughly 800 years after “Joy to the World” is set. However, it still felt like an unexplained piece of lore. How did humanity even begin to develop this kind of technology until it could fit on a person’s wrist, as Harkness’ Vortex Manipulator does?
Well, the Time Hotel begins to give us the answer. Clearly, humanity was able to begin with the Time Window before upscaling this technology to the Time Hotel throughout over 2 millennia. Finally, over 800 years, this technology was synthesized down until it became the Vortex Manipulator and was used by the Time Agency. However, that doesn’t solve the entire mystery surrounding humanity’s relationship with time. This is because, if humanity had access to this level of technology for over 800 years at the very least, it is very unlikely Jack Harkness would be the only time-traveling human, and even less likely that all humans would do this under altruistic intentions.
We May Never Get the Full Answer to Jack Harkness’ Backstory
Whilst this was a fascinating detail, that is all it is currently. We can infer what it means for Harkness’ wider lore and origin, but it is unlikely we’ll ever see the captain return in the Disney-era of Doctor Who. This is because of the complaints that were made against him for his inappropriate behavior, including flashing people on the sets of Doctor Who and the spin-off, Torchwood. Speaking to Sky News in 2021, the actor didn’t reject these allegations, admitting they were “silly behavior” that he would “never do” now. However, with Disney’s reputation of generally favoring actors with clean pasts, to protect the brand image, the Time Hotel is most likely the closest we will ever get to even a whiff of Jack Harkness.
However, that doesn’t make the Time Hotel any less fascinating. It still sets up a multitude of plot points that we could see explored down the road, such as who else has access to this technology and what they would do with it. Furthermore, it also shows just how advanced The Doctor is, as he admires the humans’ progress, yet Gatwa plays it with just enough comedy that we can tell he isn’t too impressed compared to what the TARDIS can do. Whilst we will probably not see Harkness again, the Time Hotel at least gives us clues so that we can begin to fill some of the bigger plot holes in his backstory, and that might just have to be good enough for now.
Doctor Who episodes are available to stream on Disney+ in the U.S.
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The show follows the adventures of a Time Lord, “The Doctor,” who is able to regenerate, and the Doctor’s human friends. The Doctor and his companions journey through time and space in the TARDIS – a time-traveling ship shaped like a police box – saving the universe with a combination of wit, bravery, and kindness.
- Release Date
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December 25, 2023
- Cast
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Ncuti Gatwa
, Millie Gibson
, Susan Twist
, Michelle Greenidge
, Angela Wynter
, Jemma Redgrave
, Yasmin Finney
, Anita Dobson - Seasons
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1
- Producers
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John Nathan-Turner
, Innes Lloyd
, Peter Bryant
, Philip Hinchcliffe
, Verity Lambert
, John Wiles - Creator(s)
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Donald Wilson
, Sydney Newman - Story By
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Sydney Newman C. E. Webber Donald Wilson
- Main Genre
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Sci-Fi
